Growing campus sex assault numbers show more reporting, experts say

Sexual violence has always been a specter on college campuses - but it's long lurked in the shadows.

Research suggests thousands of college students are victims of sexual assault each year, yet the vast majority of the cases go unreported. Now, concerted efforts by university officials and national leaders to raise awareness, along with a number of recent high-profile cases, have driven the issue into the spotlight.

Federally required reports released this week show that the number of sexual assaults reported at many Texas schools rose last year. The reports, known as Clery reports, show a 450 percent increase at the University of Houston, from two incidents in 2012 to 11 last year. The University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University reported smaller increases.

The numbers probably don't mean violent incidents are more frequent, experts said. Instead, they suggest that students increasingly are aware of where to report assaults and feel more confident that their cases will be handled properly.

"Given that Clery reports tend to grossly underestimate the actual incidence of rape, any time I see a dramatic rise in the number of reports, it says to me that institution is doing something right," said John Foubert, a national expert on campus sexual assault.

This year, some schools for the first time reported dating violence, domestic violence and stalking - all of which can be precursors to rape or assault - and all schools will have to do so next year under the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013.

In addition to the sharp increase in sexual assault, UH reported 18 instances of dating violence, six cases of domestic violence and 10 instances of stalking. The university launched a robust awareness campaign in 2013.

At UT-Austin, which has been called a model in combating sexual violence on campus, reports of sexual crimes rose from 18 to 21. UT reported 76 cases of dating and domestic violence and stalking.

Texas A&M University reported nine sexual assaults in 2013 compared to seven in 2012. A&M reported three cases each of dating violence and stalking.

Numbers likely much higher

The numbers, while increasing, probably remain incomplete. Multiple studies have shown that 5 percent of college women are victims of rape or attempted rape every year, said Foubert, a professor at Oklahoma State University and founder of the nonprofit One in Four, which aims to fight sexual violence on college campuses.

Last year, 19,686 women were enrolled at UH. Five percent of that total would have been 984 women who were assaulted.

UH Police Chief Ceaser Moore Jr. said nine of the 11 cases reported were sexual assaults, while two were "forcible fondling," essentially unwanted touching. Most of the episodes were "relationship-based," he said.

The university has taken a number of steps to increase awareness of the issue.

Freshmen in orientation in 2013 participated in discussions about how to report sexual assault. The university police department keeps an officer at each dorm at all times to help students feel comfortable with a law enforcement figure to whom they can report problems, and the university has literature in all residence halls about how to spot and report sexual assaults.

The university also requires all employees to report any suspicious behavior they see that could lead to an assault, officials said.

UH, long a commuter school, also has more students living on campus than ever, which could be a factor in the increase. This year, 47 percent of freshmen live on campus, and all but one of UH's nine dorms are at least 90 percent full.

Students interviewed Thursday said they generally feel safe on campus.

"During the day I feel totally fine," said Sasha Ali, a 22-year-old public health student. "I never walk alone to my car. At night I feel a little less than safe, and I do think that security needs to be a little better."

The university offers an escort service for students, and dorms are accessible only to those who live in them.

"(UH) provides you all the means to be safe; they drive you around to your classes and to your car," said Samiya Jafri, a 20-year-old supply chain management student. "I think housing is really safe because no one else can get in."

Effect on retention

Getting victims to report sexual violence is crucial to keeping them on campus and in classes, said Jennifer Hammat, UT Austin's Title IX coordinator and vice president for student affairs.

"This is as much a retention issue as anything else. It does affect their ability to do what they came here to do, and that's get a degree," Hammat said.

Across the country, the focus on sexual assault on college campuses has increased, especially over the last year. The White House last month launched an awareness campaign, dubbed "It's On Us," aimed at getting male students to step in when they see potentially violent situations.

In the last few months, several high-profile cases of sexual assaults have occurred on college campuses - frequently coupled with stories about poor responses by school administrations or police departments.

"I think the larger society is looking at this and going, 'You know I've heard about that, that's not OK, we should do more,' " Hammat said.

In Texas, not all universities saw a rise in the number of assaults reported. Rice, for instance, had two reported incidents, the same number it has reported in each of the last three years. This year it also reported two cases of dating violence and one case of stalking.

Low numbers of reported assaults can be more worrisome than high numbers, Foubert said.

"If you have low Clery numbers, to me that's a warning sign," he said. "It's not a place where survivors feel safe to say, 'this happened to me.' "

Benjamin Wermund covers higher education for the Houston Chronicle, reporting on universities and colleges in Southeast Texas and across the state. Before coming to Houston, Ben covered K-12 education in Austin and 13 other Central Texas districts for the Austin American-Statesman, where he had been a reporter since Sept. 2011. Prior to that, he was a reporter for the Big Bend Sentinel in Marfa, Texas, and a stringer for Thomson Reuters. A Leander native, he graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was managing editor of The Daily Texan.